Book rest and holder



(No Model.)

0. a; MITCH-ELL.

BOOK BEST AND HOLDER.

No. 493,936. Patented Mar. 21, 1 893.

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UNTTE STATES PATENT Orrrca.

()RSON C. MITCHELL, OF NORTH GRANVILLE, NEV YORK.

BOOK REST AND HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 493,936, dated March21, 1893.

Application filed June 11, 1892.

Serial No. 436,413- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORSON O. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at North Granville, in the county of Washington and State ofNew York, have invented a new and Improved Book Rest and Holder, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in book rests and holders, and theobjects of my improvements are to provide a new and improved book restand holder which can be used to hold a book open either when lying onits back, or when standing, at any desired angle of elevation from ahorizontal position, and without covering or obscuring the readingmatter. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view in side elevation ofmy improved book-holder with the offset of the rear support projectingrearward and a book inserted in the front support. Fig. 2 is a similarview with the offset projecting forwardly, and the book removed. 7 Fig.3 is aside elevation of same with the front support extended. Fig. 4 isa front View of the rear support and the slide extension of the frontsupport, as shown in Fig. 3, the book engaging portion of the frontsupport being removed. Fig. 5 is a bottom end view of the front supportas shown in Fig. 3. v Fig. 6 is a similar view with a book inserted inthe support. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the book-engaging portion of thefront support detached.

My improved device consists essentially of a rear support adapted toform a rest for the upper portion of the book, and a front supportadapted to form arest for the lower portion of the book and hold thesame in an open position.

The rear support is made of a single piece of wire bent so that itsmiddle part forms the base of an isosceles triangle, the supportinglegs, A-, A-, being connected at their lower ends by the upwardly curvedbase, A and at the apex of the triangle by twisting one about the other,as shown at A The ends of the wire are then divergently bent in theplane of the triangle to form the arms, A and again bent, obliquely tothe plane of the triangle, to form the offsets, A*-, the points Ytogether.

or ends of the wire being each covered by a curvilinear bend forming aneye, A

The front support consists preferably of a book-engaging portion, orbody portion, and a slide-extension. The body portion is made of a pieceof wire bent so that its middle part forms a pair of approximatelyparallel legs, B, B, connected at their upperends by the loop or eye, B,projecting to the rear, and bent to form at the lower ends of the legsthe horizontally diverging a'rms, B and at the outer ends of the armsthe uprights, B

approximately in the same plane with, and parallel to, the legs, 13-, B,and having each an eye, B covering the point of the wire. The legs areconnected at or near their upper ends by a clip, 13 which serves toclose the loop, B, and as a guide for the slide-extension, G-..

The slide-extension consists of a wire bent at one end to form an eye,O', and provided at the other end with a clip 0 adapted to clasp andslide lengthwise of the legs, B-, B. Before the bend is made to form theeye on the slide-extension, the end to be bent is passed through theclip, B -,and loop, lB'- 0f the front support. The wire is then bentaround the rear support at the twisted portion, A to form the offsettingeye, C'-, which loosely connects the front and rear supports The lowerends of the legs, l3, B-, are sprung into the grooves, G of theslide-clip, and the connection of the parts is completed.

The legs of the front support have the function of torsion springs inmaintainingthe diverging arms, B in line with each other, so that whenan open book is inserted between theuprights, B and the legs, as shownin Figs. 1 and 6, the resilient force of the torsion springs tightlyclamps the lower portion of the book between the legs and uprights, andholds it securely in a fixed open position.

The upper end of the book rests upon the upper end of the rear support,and the book is thus held in an open, conveniently inclined position.

The inclination of the book can be varied in a limited degree bychanging the relative positions of the legs of the front and rearsupports; but the offsets, A, on the rear support are an important partof my invention, and afford a means for materially varyingtheinclination of the book, independently of the inclination of thesupporting legs. By turning the rear support halfway around, the line ofprojection of the offsets is reversed.

In Fig. 2, the offsets project frontwise, so as to support the book in aposition having adegree of inclination much less than that of the frontsupport.

In Fig. 1,the rear support is shown in aposition the reverse of thatshown in Fig. 2, with the offsets projecting to the rear, in whichposition the book would be supported at approximately the same angle ofinclination as the front support.

By moving the slide extension lengthwise of the torsion-spring legs, thelength of the front support can be varied and adapted to books differingin length.

By covering the ends or points of the wires by curvilinear bends asshown, the end eyes 'so formed eliminate all danger of marring the book.

The end-eyes, L*, on the uprights, B form convenient thumb and fingerpieces for operating the torsion-spring legs when it is desired toinsert a book in the holder, or to turn a leaf of an inserted book. Theymay be made of any desired size to receive the thumb or finger.

By having the offsetting eye, O, on the front support loosely inclosethe back support, I am able, not only to easily reverse the backsupport, but to fold the two supports together when not in use, asillustrated by the solid and dotted lines in Fig. 2, whereby the holdercan be packed into a small space for shipment or storage.

The broken lines D in Figs. 2 and 3, show several different lines ofinclination that may be given to the supported book.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a book-holder, the combination with a front support having a restfor the lower end of the book; of a reversible rear support; and anoffset projecting from the upper part of the rear support at an anglethereto to form a rest for the upper end of the book in either of twopositions, substantially as described.

2. In a book-holder, the combination with the extensible front support;of a reversible rear support; and an offset projecting at an angle tothe upper end of the reversible rear support for supporting the upperpart of the book, in either of two planes inclined to the horizontalsubstantially as described.

3. In a book rest the combination of the spring legs B, having clips Ethe extension 0 having sliding clip 0 and book-holding arms one on eachside of said legs and normally situated in the same plane whereby whenthe holding arms are applied to the front of a book and the legs to itsback the former are held upon the book front by the torsional force ofsaid legs; substantially as set forth.

ORSON O. MITCHELL.

Witnesses:

JOHN B. DAVIS, GEO. B. CULVER.

